PARK CITY – William H. Macy makes his directorial debut with Rudderless, a musical drama that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

"It's an important story and it's got a lot of heart," Macy told THR. "It tells a story that I don't think has been told before. It's loaded with music, which is near and dear to my heart."

The film stars Billy Crudup as a father who is mourning the death of his son. When the man discovers a box of his son's demo tapes and lyrics, he learns to play them and sets out on a tour with another musician.

Macy, Crudup and Selena Gomez dropped by THR's video lounge during the festival to speak about the film, which required Crudup to take on a very musical role.

The 21-year-old star, who says her work in Spring Breakers helped her get the part in Rudderless, told THR that she appreciated the "family aspect" of working in film compared to the isolation of the music world.

"If I can be very honest, I think music is very vain and it tends to be about one person all the time," she said. "When you are welcomed into a project with people who are all there to do something to make it great, there's something you get out of that that you can't get out of music.

"It keeps me sane," she added.

On Monday night, Crudup and Gomez both performed a song each during the film's party on Main Street for a small group of cast and crew.

Musicians Simon Steadman and Ben Kweller played a half-hour set featuring music from the film's soundtrack, with Gomez joining them onstage for the final number.